Caterwaul wrote:I knew things werent going to go that serious, as this series isnt really like that, but it was an interesting look at how Shinki AI can be...problematic. This time it's a training exercise, but what about next time? We've all seen how dedicated Shinkis can be to their masters, even a newly activated one. And isnt it amazing how much difference the master makes?

Honestly, I think it's less the Shinki AI being problematic and more their...humanity, for lack of a better word, being as problematic as it is with humans. The attitude of the terrorist Arnvals was basically identical to that of normal religious terrorists; just replace "master" with "god." That's the flip side of Shinkis being advanced enough to be recognized as legal persons; that means they have free will, and they can choose to do evil as well as good. While you could argue that their masters are to blame for "corrupting" them, it's not too dissimilar to how parents can raise their children to accept things that we might think of as evil as normal. Shinkis' learning routines are likely similar to those of a child (which explains why Rihito's Shinkis, especially the "younger" Lene and Ines, tend to act more childish compared to the "older" and more mature Arnval), which would make them impressionable in the same way a child is. It's entirely possible that Shinkis, especially units with less life experience, might be prosecuted as minors in regard to that, though that might be on a case-by-case basis. Also, there are likely preset programming packages to allow a newer Shinki to come pre-loaded with life experience and knowledge (I'm guessing military Shinkis come with one of those).

Then again, those shinkis weren't truly terrorist... but given what we've seen of Ach and yda, it also depends on their master. Still, I do wonder if the shinki's AI is programmed with Asimov's laws in head or not.

Eh, Asimov's Three Laws would likely be more trouble than they're worth. They sound simple, but require definitions of "human," "harm," and plenty of other things, and even in Asimov's books, where they were properly and perfectly defined, cause plenty of headaches. I think it's more likely that the Shinki programmers rely upon the masters to pass moraity onto the Shinkis the same way parents pass morality onto their children. That said, one idea that might have carried over from Asimov is that of a Shinki psychologist; equal parts computer programmer, neuroscientist, and psychologist.

Asimov intend the 3 laws as a comment on human society and repeatedly said as such.
i am struggling with a craving to post more terrible sciencetrivia with a subtext of "this is completely impossible" again.

rantinan wrote:Asimov intend the 3 laws as a comment on human society and repeatedly said as such.
i am struggling with a craving to post more terrible sciencetrivia with a subtext of "this is completely impossible" again.

I'll just take shinkis as Blank Storage devices. The master can put anything he or she wants. Given how shinkis can employ real weaponry, I'd say some rotten apples could use them for something sinister.

Reminds me of High Jackers in real life.. They passed the same security as everyone.. but then out of the blue they now have weapons to threaten everyone on board..

I forgot whose post was that but shinkis seem to be like a miniaturized versions of weapon platforms too..

Those band of Arnvals wouldn't be training in the first place if there was no possibility of Crimes and Terrorism using Shinkis.

and yeah, I know I'm 2 episodes late... I didn't had time to watch in the past weeks.

Curious, would you guys be able to recognize your shinki in a bunch of same model shinkis?

Interesting question posed though. Since all mine have clothing I can tell them all apart. Just wearing the base outfit, I'd know my Marienda, Altines, and Kohiru almost immediatly. Kohiru the easiest because I've painted her black instead of red. My Lancemento and Espadia wouldn't be much of a challenge either since my Espadia is rather paranoid without her weapons.
My Waffe Dolphin would be the hardest to tell apart from military Shinki teams.
Then Zyrdarya and Juvisy I adopted them from someone else so I'd have a hard time picking them out.
My Arnaval and Strarf (MK.1 the very first editions) Have a lot of little things that make them unique and small damaged spots that set them apart if they were in a group.

I think though I'd have a harder time with mine overall because I have so many, if real life was like the show I'd probably only have 4 or 5.

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The thing that stood out to me most in this episode was that the size/scale of the MicroSD cards was inconsistent. One scene shows them to be relatively postcard-scaled to Shinki hands, which is almost 1:1 accurate to real life, and then you get the scene where Ann extracts the "disarm key" MicroSD card from the enemy Arnval and it's shown to be small enough to sit in a cardslot in the right side of her torso cavity, when it should be big enough to impede ribcage articulation (Extra points for showing the Shinki "Heart/Core" nestled in the left side of the torso).

As for differentiating my Shinki from the others, won't be too hard, since Singapore appears to not have many Shinki running around. I might try making them some simple denim clothes from the scraps leftover from repairing some old pairs of jeans to give them something unique.